After watching the England game gawd help us if we ever get racism into our game like that, bad enough one person doing it but that was a mob

Very disturbing scenes at the game tonight. Let's see if they taken any action.

They were saying that in 2012 Nicholas Bentdner was fined £100k by UEFA for advertising a bookmakers on this underwear!!
Two International teams only got fined £50k each for racism at their games.......


Typical garbage UEFA....... No idea..... evil:

English supporters hands aren’t exactly clean on this score. The moral high ground taken tonight by all and sundry just emphasises the sweep, sweep mentality we have to it.

Thankfully, with a very few exceptions, we don't get people like that at rugby. They frequent football the world over. I've been to an England game from Hull years ago and and and seen it. No doubt some England fans there actually subscribe to those views but know to Keep it buttoned

No some English supporters aren't but what else do we do to combat it, say no problem because we've got a few pillocks as well, so we'll let it slide. No we fight against it as a community everywhere we see it.

I've seen similar displays in Eastern Europe over the years and it just doesn't change out there. UEFA wants to get a pair and start handing out more than a few fines because it's them not England that's sweeping it under the carpet.

I thought the England players and fans were great tonight in not reacting to it but just beating them where it hurts, back of the net and a few cheeky songs.

Lets be honest Eastern, Europe has got a big problem with neo Nazi groups, in fact I bet that section of Bulgaria fans all dressed in black with their faces covered, some skinheads, tattooed scum-balls were there for one thing and it wasn't the Football. Have you seen a display like that by England fans, giving it the hail Hitler and all that.

This game was already held in a partially closed stadium because Uefa imposed sanctions after incidents during Bulgaria’s matches against Kosovo and the Czech Republic in June.

The last time England played in Sofia in 2011, Bulgaria were fined €40,000 after monkey chants were aimed at Ashley Young, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott,

I’ve seen it plenty of times from England fans, seen it domestically too. Old enough to remember monkey chants aimed at our own players at Wembley. You can argue the degree of it has reduced over the years and certainly within the stadium things have changed but there have plenty of recent examples within English football that tell me there is still an issue. Things happen, they get mentioned in limited media for 5mins and then swept under the carpet and out of sight.

As a Jamaican gentleman I know was keen to point out last night there is no point in condemning the Bulgarians if you don’t challenge it in your everyday life.

For me, you will always have racist people and I don't think that will ever change and they come from all ethnic groups. Some people just are and I'm not convinced they can be changed, just stopped.

The issue here is not really the idiots at the ground but the attitude of the Bulgarian authorities and FIFA, neither of whom seemed to take the problem seriously pre-match. The so-called fans are the obvious racists but the much bigger problem in my eyes is that the authorities are clearly ignoring the issue, they are basically giving these yobs their tacit support and that's institutionalised racism and that can and must be changed.

Do that and these animals won't get the platform they so desire and it's not difficult to do if you have the will.

Absolutely - and this morning, predictably, you have the Daily Mail, purveyor of racist hate speech for as long as I can remember, decrying the horrible racists mistreating 'our boys.'

I hate football anyway - and this is just another reminder of one of the many reasons why; it attracts the absolute worst kind of people, and seems as a sport either unwilling or unable to do anything meaningful to prevent this kind of behaviour.

The Italian FA in my eyes are just as bad as UEFA and FIFA in tackling racism if not worse. Racism in Serie A is the norm.

Starting my life in a none RL area this has always amazed. Although football and RL have in the North at least are drawn from the same demographic I’ve never witnessed any serious racism, certainly nothing like football! Even a little is not good enough but it really has been rare so no need to beat ourselves up.

Testament to all involved that the worlds most working class sport is it’s most gentlemanly! Same with gay players, was it just this year that the first gay Premiership footballer came out!!!

This is one of the reasons I’ve never really wanted RL to expand all that much as I think we’d lose the above if we ever became too popularist. Not Luddite just realistic.

In 40 years of watching RL, I had literally *never* heard racism at a match; until earlier this season, at Leeds, when a couple of gammony WT fans shouted at Mikolaj Oledzki, "Fu**ing Brexit will get rid of you."

Some people are just like that.

It's not often but I've heard it when watching Sts Bradford back in the Hanley days
It was awkward at first as it was a big group of Sts lads but eventually prople started teli g them to shut up and they moved on.
It's bound to happen but so far rugby league fans have made it clear it isn't acceptable so has been pushed out.

It's been around for donkeys years and anyone denying it walks round with their fingers in their ears. I've had arguments with so many supporters of different teams that I wonder why I've never got a crack.

I remember David Barends when he played for Wakefield having monkey noises directed at him, appalling.

Agreed but relative to football we are a million times better. In football, it's organised and endemic and nobody steps in, in football mate you most certainly would have had a crack or fifty by now

Yep you're so right, but conversely when I've confronted racists at Wakey games the only people that have my back are my half a dozen mates. There aren't many police (compared with football) and the stewards aren't much help. As for getting cracked I've usually talked my way out of trouble, not had a scrap for 41yrs.

I too am a lover, not a fighter

Me too but the missus reckons I’m not very good at that either.

She told me the same

Boom boom.

I've had a season ticket for Barnsley FC for twenty years and sit in the East (family) stand. I can honestly say I've never heard a racist remark shouted out, although I have heard one or two mildly racist remarks ie "They've got a lot of s in their side", or words to that effect passed between fans in adjacent seats.

That may have been considered 'mildly racist' in the 70's; now it's just *actually* racist.

Although I do hear it at times at rugby grounds, I certainly don't think its rife.

Heard it down at Belle Vue, and it was targeted at the late Roy Powell, also heard it more recently against Jamie Jones Buchanan at Magic Weekend

Sorry, Bren, I'm going to have to be a bit of a pedant here and a touch long-winded.

Although I get your point, I really don't like this scattergun approach to these issues, mainly because they are technically incorrect.

Coming from a younger person, said comment would probably be a touch racist in its connotation because in that generation you simply wouldn't use such a term. For older people its more a rather clumsy description of a fact. It's just words if you were to say 'there are a lot of black players in that team' you wouldn't be accused of racism, unless there was an extra sub-text to the comment. It's basically only the use of the slang term 's' that gives it any racist connotation at all.

I'm not having a go at you personally but getting hung up on minor comments like that doesn't achieve anything IMHO, other than annoying and thus polarising peoples attitude. It forces people to get defensive about a throwaway comment probably intended only for the recipient.

The law is very clear on racism. It isn't illegal to hold racist views or for that matter express them, it simply isn't and for good reason, as it's an accusation as open to abuse as the abuse itself. 'Is it because I is black' is a joke line but it's also an accurate example of how the race issue can be twisted.

What is clearly illegal is to incite racial hatred and to discriminate on racial grounds. Redcats comment doesn't do either, it's ugly but it's not racist or certainly not in the eyes of the law. Truth is no one would ever be prosecuted and found guilty of anything for using that term unless of course, it was part of a wider conversation or situation.

What happened in Bulgaria was racist in every way and it's this fanatical level of hatred that we need to confront with every weapon we have, terms like 's' will disappear from common use within another generation. Those left using it will probably be guilty of far more severe forms of racism than that.

I'm sure plenty will disagree with me but its a free country so that's fair enough, it's purely as I see and understand the subject. As I say not having a go, just a bit of context, think I'll go lay down now